The Professor at the Breakfast Tableby Oliver Wendell HolmesPREFACE TO REVISED EDITION.The reader of to-day will not forget, I trust, that it is nearly aquarter of a century since these papers were written. Statementswhich were true then are not necessarily true now. Thus, the speedof the trotting horse has been so much developed that the record ofthe year when the fastest time to that date was given must be veryconsiderably altered, as may be seen by referring to a note on page49 of the "Autocrat." No doubt many other statements and opinionsmight be more or less modified if I were writing today instead ofhaving written before the war, when the world and I were both more...　

An Anthology of Australian VerseEdited by Bertram StevensDedicated toDAVID SCOTT MITCHELL, Esq.SydneyPrefaceThe Editor has endeavoured to make this selection representativeof the best short poems written by Australians or inspired byAustralian scenery and conditions of life, "Australian" in this connectionbeing used to include New Zealand. The arrangement isas nearly as possible chronological; and the appendix containsbrief biographical particulars of the authors, together with noteswhich may be useful to readers outside Australia.The Editor thanks Messrs. H. H. Champion, Henry Gyles Turner,...　

What Diantha Didby Charlotte Perkins GilmanCHAPTER I.HANDICAPPEDOne may use the Old Man of the Sea,For a partner or patron,But helpless and hapless is heWho is ridden, inextricably,By a fond old mer-matron.The Warden house was more impressive in appearance than its neighbors.It had "grounds," instead of a yard or garden; it had wide pillaredporches and "galleries," showing southern antecedents; moreover, it hada cupola, giving date to the building, and proof of the continuingambitions of the builders.The stately mansion was covered with heavy flowering vines, also withheavy mortgages. Mrs. Roscoe Warden and her four daughters reposed...　

La Constantinby Alexandre Dumas, PereCHAPTER IBefore beginning our story, we must warn the reader that it will not be worth his while to make researches among contemporary or other records as to the personage whose name it bears. For in truth neither Marie Leroux, widow of Jacques Constantin, nor her accomplice, Claude Perregaud, was of sufficient importance to find a place on any list of great criminals, although it is certain that they were guilty of the crimes with which they were charged. It may seem strange that what follows is more a history of the retribution which overtook the criminals than a circumstantial description of the deeds for which they were punished; but the crimes wer　

Within the Lawby Marvin DanaFrom the play of Bayard VeillerCONTENTS.CHAPTERI. The Panel of LightII. A Cheerful ProdigalIII. Only Three YearsIV. Kisses and KleptomaniaV. The Victim of the LawVI. InfernoVII. Within the LawVIII. A Tip from HeadquartersX. A Legal DocumentX. Marked MoneyXI. The ThiefXII. A Bridegroom SpurnedXIII. The Advent of GriggsXIV. A Wedding AnnouncementXV. Aftermath of TragedyXVI. Burke PlotsXVII. Outside the LawXVIII. The Noiseless DeathXIX. Within the ToilsXX. Who Shot Griggs?XXI. Aggie at BayXXII. The Trap That FailedXXIII. The ConfessionXXIV. Anguish and Bliss...　

The Queen of the Pirate Isleby Bret HarteI first knew her as the Queen of the Pirate Isle. To the best ofmy recollection she had no reasonable right to that title. She wasonly nine years old, inclined to plumpness and good humor,deprecated violence, and had never been to sea. Need it be addedthat she did NOT live in an island and that her name was Polly?Perhaps I ought to explain that she had already known otherexperiences of a purely imaginative character. Part of herexistence had been passed as a Beggar Child,solely indicated by ashawl tightly folded round her shoulders, and chills; as aSchoolmistress, unnecessarily severe; as a Preacher, singularly...　

A TALE OF THE TONTLAWALDLong, long ago there stood in the midst of a country covered withlakes a vast stretch of moorland called the Tontlawald, on whichno man ever dared set foot. From time to time a few bold spiritshad been drawn by curiosity to its borders, and on their returnhad reported that they had caught a glimpse of a ruined house ina grove of thick trees, and round about it were a crowd of beingsresembling men, swarming over the grass like bees. The men wereas dirty and ragged as gipsies, and there were besides a quantityof old women and half-naked children.One night a peasant who was returning home from a feast wandereda little farther into the Tontlawald, and came back with th　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE TOP AND BALLby Hans Christian AndersenA WHIPPING TOP and a little ball lay together in a box, amongother toys, and the top said to the ball, "Shall we be married, aswe live in the same box?"But the ball, which wore a dress of morocco leather, and thoughtas much of herself as any other young lady, would not evencondescend to reply.The next day came the little boy to whom the playthingsbelonged, and he painted the top red and yellow, and drove abrass-headed nail into the middle, so that while the top wasspinning round it looked splendid....　

THE SUN-DOG TRAILSITKA CHARLEY smoked his pipe and gazed thoughtfully at the POLICEGAZETTE illustration on the wall. For half an hour he had beensteadily regarding it, and for half an hour I had been slylywatching him. Something was going on in that mind of his, and,whatever it was, I knew it was well worth knowing. He had livedlife, and seen things, and performed that prodigy of prodigies,namely, the turning of his back upon his own people, and, in so faras it was possible for an Indian, becoming a white man even in hismental processes. As he phrased it himself, he had come into thewarm, sat among us, by our fires, and become one of us. He had...　

Three Dialogues Between Hylas and PhilonousGeorge Berkeley1713THREE DIALOGUESBetweenHYLAS AND PHILONOUSThe Design of which is Plainly to Demonstrate the Reality andPerfection ofHUMAN KNOWLEDGEThe Incorporeal Nature of the...　

George Sand, Some Aspects of Her Life and Writingsby Rene DoumicTranslated by Alys HallardFirst published in 1910. This volume is dedicated to MadameL. Landouzy with gratitude and affectionThis book is not intended as a study of George Sand. It ismerely a series of chapters touching on various aspects of her lifeand writings. My work will not be lost if the perusal of these pagesshould inspire one of the historians of our literature with the ideaof devoting to the great novelist, to her genius and her influence,a work of this kind.CONTENTSI AURORE DUPINII BARONNE DUDEVANTIII A FEMINIST OF 1832IV THE ROMANTIC ESCAPADE...　

The Man Who Knew Too Muchby Gilbert K. ChestertonCONTENTSTHE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH:I. THE FACE IN THE TARGETII. THE VANISHING PRINCEIII. THE SOUL OF THE SCHOOLBOYIV. THE BOTTOMLESS WELLV. THE FAD OF THE FISHERMANVI. THE HOLE IN THE WALLVII. THE TEMPLE OF SILENCEVIII. THE VENGEANCE OF THE STATUETHE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCHI. THE FACE IN THE TARGETHarold March, the rising reviewer and social critic, was walking vigorously across a great tableland of moors and commons, the horizon of which was fringed with the far-off woods of the famous estate of Torwood Park. He was a good-looking young man in tweeds, with very pale curly hair and pale clear eyes. Walking in wind and sun in the very landscape